Contributor Guidelines

1. Stick to debating the issues and respect other people’s views and beliefs. Contributions launching personal attacks or that are hurtful and insulting will not be accepted.

2. When you have finished crafting your contribution, read it again before posting it. Consider whether others will understand your arguments. Something that you meant to be satirical or humorous might not be clear to another reader. Also, take into consideration that your words will remain on the internet for a very, very long time, if not forever.

3. We want your knowledgeable personal views and arguments on Thought Leader — not those of the organisation, political party or company with which you are associated. Try not to be simply a spokesperson for your organisation or company.

4. All contributors are encouraged to comment and reply to their readers’ comments, with the aim of creating online “conversations”. However, if a contribution has received a great number of comments already, it may be easier to write a reply as a new contribution.

5. Thought Leader is not a website for personal blogs. We aim to collect and publish well-argued, substantial issues and views — from a personal point of view, of course.

6. A swearword in the right spot can work well, but gratuitous profanity won’t do. If you have to swear, make sure it’s justified.

7. Contributions that contain racist, sexist or homophobic remarks — or that may be interpreted as such — won’t make it on to Thought Leader.

8. There is a difference between criticising a political party, a religion, an organisation, a cultural group or a community and unreasonably attacking such bodies. Try to motivate your comments and explain your arguments as much as you can. Above all, make sure your contribution represents fair comment.

9. The editorial team keeps a close watch on legal matters too: defamatory contributions, for example, will be deleted.

10. Thought Leader is mainly an English site, though we don’t mind the odd word or sentence in any other language. Just ensure that the average English-speaking reader won’t feel completely lost.

11. No contributions that advertise companies, businesses, services or such will be accepted. We do sell advertisements on the site, though — contact [email protected] to find out more.

12. Plagiarism will not be tolerated.

13. If you feel that someone else has not taken these guidelines into account, please let us know at [email protected]. We will deal with such issues as soon as possible.

Thought Leader comment guidelines

We welcome as much interaction and vibrant discussion between our contributors and their readers as possible — but we do want the website to be a mature and thought-provoking environment, so some guidelines apply for posting comments.

1. All comments first have to be approved by the editorial team before they appear on the website.

2. Stick to debating the issues and respect other people’s views and beliefs. Comments launching personal attacks or that are hurtful and insulting will not be accepted.

3. When you have finished crafting your comment, read it again before posting it. Consider whether others will understand your arguments. Something that you meant to be satirical or humorous might not be clear to another reader. Also, take into consideration that your words will remain on the internet for a very, very long time, if not forever.

4. A swearword in the right spot can work well, but gratuitous profanity won’t do. If you have to swear, make sure it’s justified.

5. Don’t write your whole comment in capital letters only.

6. Comments that contain racist, sexist or homophobic remarks — or that may be interpreted as such — won’t make it on to Thought Leader.

7. There is a difference between criticising a political party, a religion, an organisation, a cultural group or a community and unreasonably attacking such bodies. Try to motivate your comments and explain your arguments as much as you can. Above all, make sure your words represent fair comment.

8. A comment that is obviously off topic — that is, unrelated to the article or contribution in question and the comments that precede it — or that clearly doesn’t contribute to the ongoing debate may be deleted by the editorial team.

9. The editorial team keeps a close watch on legal matters too: defamatory comments, for example, will be deleted.

10. Unacceptable comments will be deleted without notification.

11. Thought Leader is mainly an English site, though we don’t mind the odd word or sentence in any other language. Just ensure that the average English-speaking reader won’t feel completely lost.

12. Plagiarism will not be tolerated.

13. No comments that advertise companies, businesses, services or such will be accepted. We do sell advertisements on the site, though — contact [email protected] to find out more.